


Unseen Stars

by fishfingersandjellybabies



Series: Robin Reversal AU [16]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-17
Updated: 2015-07-17
Packaged: 2018-04-09 20:25:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4362977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishfingersandjellybabies/pseuds/fishfingersandjellybabies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not for the first time, Bruce raised his eyes to the smoggy clouds, cursing the day Ra’s al Ghul ever laid eyes on Timothy Drake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unseen Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Your specifications are implied. This is incredibly short. Again, more a scene or moment than a story. Supplemental listening would be Woodkid’s album ‘The Golden Age.’

Bruce found him in an alley. Standing over a body freshly dead, still twitching as the nerves died. The helmet masked his features; the leather coat hid his tiny frame. But Bruce still knew his face would be blank, his muscles relaxed. Unemotional. Unattached. Clinical. This was all just strategy to him, nothing more.

Just like all the others.

Not for the first time, Bruce raised his eyes to the smoggy clouds, cursing the day Ra’s al Ghul ever laid eyes on Timothy Drake.

“He was a child molester.” Tim suddenly called. When Bruce looked back, the bright red mask was facing him. “And I have the evidence to show he murdered four people and stole from seven small businesses.”

“Then you should have taken that evidence to Gordon when you dropped that man at the precinct.” Bruce growled.

“Would’ve taken too long.” Tim shrugged. Suddenly his arm lashed out, and there was an object flying through the air. Bruce caught it easily, a flashdrive. “I’ve got a drug dealer I’ve got to chat with in about twenty.”

Bruce didn’t respond, choosing instead to glare down at the device.

“So…” Tim sang. “If you need something, better make it quick.”

Bruce closed his eyes. There, he could see what he loss. There he could see the child, Timothy Drake, the Boy Wonder. Robin. Smart and challenging, looking for the best in people around him.

He wouldn’t see…this. Wouldn’t see reality. Wouldn’t see what Tim…what _monster_ his son became.

“You can’t do this.” Bruce whispered, in lieu of sharing his true thoughts. “It makes you just as bad as _them_.”

“Matter of opinion.” Tim responded coldly. A wall, Bruce knew, to hide the true hurt and pain that came with Bruce’s accusation.

Silence reigned between them for a few moments. Tim watched Bruce, while Bruce kept his head bowed. It wasn’t tension that sizzled in the air, but a clear sense of longing. Sadness, disappointment, frustration. All melted together to create a blockade between the former partners. Bruce knew he could never get near his resurrected son, just as Tim knew he’d never really let him try.

Tim eventually turned away, gave a bitter chuckle. “I saw Damian the other day, by the way. Not in mask, just…he was in the park. With that stupid dog of his.” Tim hesitated, mimicking Bruce’s motion of glancing up to the unseen stars. “He…said. I could rejoin the family. That there’s still hope for me.”

“There is.” Bruce replied without thought, finally looking up. “You can.”

Tim stared upwards for another second before shrugging once more, stepping over the dead body and disappearing into the shadows without looking back.

Bruce was left alone, with nothing but the flashdrive and an echo.

“Eh. I’ll pass.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Other Robin Reversal AU stories](http://fishfingersandjellybabies.tumblr.com/tagged/robin-reversal-au)   
> 


End file.
